Monthly Archives: January 2014

You’ve come to the right place if you want to find out how to trade options. Stocks and options trading are very similar. Both, for instance, are purchased and sold via the stock markets. The difference is, option holders can only purchase or sell during a limited period of time at a certain price range. That’s how trading options function. While stock traders are free to buy and sell as they please, option traders are limited to particular periods of time. That’s the biggest deviation that option traders make from trading stocks.

It’s very well known that there’s a certain element of risk involved in any stock market or other such exchange. That said, while many people claim it’s the easiest and fastest way to make big bucks, it can also be the fastest way to lose everything you’ve worked so hard to earn thus far. That’s why you should learn as much as you can about how to trade options before you get yourself too far into trading options and stocks.

This is your income on the line, so you should take time and put lots of thought into how you want to trade options and when you want to do it. While it’s not possible for me to tell you everything about trading options in this one article, or maybe in an entire book, I can still give you some useful pointers that I use in my own stock options trading. I’m giving you these tips from my own experience, but every person’s experience is different, so use them at your own risk – or mold them to suit your needs.

Before you embark on your options journey, make yourself familiar with the specialized vocabulary involved in the options market. Make yourself knowledgeable about everything related to stock options, especially how options like put options and call options differ. Make sure you know about the option premiums and whether or not they might affect your trading costs. Once you understand these fundamental principles, you’ll be on the road to becoming a successful option trader. You can find a plethora of information on the internet, but joining a newsgroup or forum for option trading can give you a platform on which to learn from other, more experienced option traders, who have been where you are now and can give you valuable lessons from their past mistakes.

Once you think you’ve gathered enough knowledge on how to trade options, and feel ready to put it to use, start with paper trading. If your paper trades are doing well, take that success as confidence to bolster you forward into real trading. Downplay your risk at first – there are no guarantees in the world of stocks, and you want to protect your interests. Start with trade options that have a low option premium – it, they have inexpensive rates, and you don’t bear too much risk and won’t lose too much of money if it turns sour. A good idea is to diversify your option trades by investing a small amount in several stock counters to even better protect your investments. Definitely don’t put all your money in one basket, especially as a novice – you could lose it all, and then what would you do?

Jerome George Sherman is the webmaster at Best Option Picks and currently resides in The Bahamas. Visit his site now for more information on how to trade options.

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program (and other potential affiliate networks), an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.